Lakeland athletic director suspended amid Snapchat allegations

LAKELAND, Fla. -- The superintendent of schools in Polk County is calling for the school board to fire Lakeland High School athletic director Justin Troller amid allegations he had inappropriate Snapchat communications with a student and lied to try to get the student disciplined.

Troller, who’s also a Lakeland city commissioner, declined to comment about the accusations at Monday’s commission meeting.

He’s suspended from his job with pay, following a Polk County Sheriff’s office investigation that resulted in no charges.

According to the investigation, the student told investigators last September he asked Troller if he smokes weed.

The student claims Troller said, "I'm trusting you. Yeah."

Then, the student says, Troller asked, "What is your size?" and later said, “Hop on this D.”

Since the alleged conversation took place over Snapchat, it disappeared.

“That the conversations existed, yes, that's just a fact, but what was in those conversations, we don't know,” Scott Wilder, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s office, said.

Wilder said the Sheriff’s office even reached out to Snapchat for the files, but the company didn’t have them either.

There wasn’t enough evidence for criminal charges, but the superintendent wrote Troller a letter, telling him he broke school board policy and she’s recommending to the board that they fire him.

What investigators did find is that Troller and another teacher falsely accused the student of using profanity at school. The student had video that proved their claims weren’t true, the report said.

“He clearly did not use profanity on that tape,” Wilder explained.

The school board will decide whether to fire Troller at its meeting on April 25. He can ask for a hearing, but he wouldn’t say whether he plans to do that.